When we last left outgoing Utah Senator Bob Bennett, he was predicting that any Republican majorities earned this year would be short-lived, because the Republican Party is long on slogans, and short on ideas.
Remember, this is outgoing Utah Republican Senator Bob Bennett.
Well, he's talking again, and now he thinks that his party might have actually impeded their own chances to earn those majorities with the caliber of their candidates:
"With the tea party creating the mischief that it is in Colorado, we may not win that seat. My sources in Nevada say with Sharron Angle there's no way Harry Reid loses in Nevada," he said about the GOP challenger to Democratic Senate majority leader.
In Kentucky's Senate race, he said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has been making strides to help tea party favorite Rand Paul avoid a loss there.
"Rand Paul — that's a seat we could lose in Kentucky, but McConnell seems to be helping stabilize Rand Paul and pulling back from some of his more dangerous statements," he said in the interview Thursday.
Of course, it needs to be stipulated that Bennett is out of a job next year because of the same teabagger animus that is propelling individuals like Ken Buck in Colorado, Sharron Angle in Nevada, and Rand Paul in Kentucky. Therefore, it is contemptibly easy for the right-wing to declare all of this sour grapes.
Perhaps, but the numbers don't lie. Harry Reid is in immeasurably better position now than he was in January, and Sharron Angle endangers her electability every time she opens her mouth. The same can be said for Rand Paul. Would Trey Grayson be dead-even with Jack Conway right now, as Paul is according to the latest data? Conway is a formidable candidate, but the combination of terrain and climate would seem to portend a GOP edge in a state like Kentucky. But Jack Conway is an excellent position to win, in part because he has run an excellent campaign, but in larger part because his Republican opponent has been something of a train wreck.
The Colorado picture is a little less clear, if only because the identity of both party nominees is still an open question.
What is clear, however, is that Bennett is telling a little more truth. And there is virtually no sign that the Republican Party to which he has belonged his entire career is planning on listening.